VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : COMMENTARY : Rooney Doesn’t Deserve Dismissal for Oversight

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has made a foolish, outrageous decision by firing Dudley Rooney of Alemany High for the embarrassing disclosure that a registered sex offender coached at the Mission Hills campus last school year.

Rooney, Alemany’s longtime athletic director, has become the scapegoat for the hiring of former boys’ basketball coach Darryl McDonald, who was convicted in 1989 for oral copulation with a minor.

Anyone close to Alemany knows it was the former principal, Rev. Robert Milbauer, who made the decision to hire McDonald, at the urging of several influential parents.

McDonald was not Rooney’s choice. But he’s losing his job because of McDonald’s dishonesty and deception.

If there was a communication breakdown at Alemany and someone failed to conduct a criminal background check on McDonald, then disciplinary action is appropriate.

But even if Rooney is judged responsible for the oversight, firing him defies logic.

The Archdiocese is ignoring Rooney’s 22 years of dedication and exemplary work as a teacher, coach and administrator at Alemany.

This is a man whose integrity and work ethic should be a model at every Catholic school.

The Archdiocese, as always, loves to do things in secret. Neither parents nor students were informed of Rooney’s dismissal Tuesday.

But now that word has gotten out, it’s time for parents, students and alumni to let the Archdiocese know they want Rooney to be reinstated.

He doesn’t deserve the shabby treatment he has received from his employer.